* Wednesday C&C "No Theme" Thread #797 / Revived #017 on 2023 07 26 *

Thanks to those who commented! I always appreciate your giving my images some of your time and your thoughts. To say a little more about the image and its processing: I loved the old cars in Havana, and I spotted this one and noted the little girl's expression as the car veered around a corner in a fairly deserted part of old Havana. The result was dismal. My first issue was to reduce the excessive noise/grain from high ISO and dirty bus windows, which I did with the new LR tool. Second issue was the extreme tilt caused by the bus veering around the same corner while I was taking it. I used the new PS beta tools to try to fill in the edges that straightening obliterated, and it did OK some places but not so much to replace the rear tire on the car. I had to do that by hand the old way. Then I had to pull it all together so it made a coherent whole. I wanted to restore some grit and some detail so I used an antique Topaz Adjust filter, masked out then painted back in the degree and places I wanted it. I fiddled with the color toning a bit back in LR to get the color palette I'd anticipated. So it's a mix of on site impulse, with some instant previsualization, then experimentation in post to get it someplace I'd imagined.

Thank you, those blues struck me in the moment.

Thanks Mike, you are right that it is an interpretive rather than documentary image. There's nothing removed or added (except the back tire and distant corners. The original was badly tilted and the noise was the ugly speckled-color kind, so I had to remove it and add it back to bring it under control.

You are right about the bus. And you are right about exactly what my ambition was with this thing. It was one of my favorites of my Cuba photos but never shown because I had never finished it till last week. I'm looking at others. A few are so bad that all I can do is paint them. Of all my trips, this was the most challenging photographically because of the limitations on how I moved around outside certain areas.

Now Linda, we both know there's not much marvelous about Minnie. She's a tired old lady with a missing muse and a lot of pictures on an external disk. But when I took this one, it did scream Havana, because it is classic. The little girl made it special.

It is from a bus with dirty windows (a rather tall one at that) careening around corners and racing down bumpy streets. The horse and donkey carts had better viewpoints but rougher roads. It was an interesting challenge. You can't really escape chaperonage in Cuba either. I've always been able to give the tour guides the slip on other trips but in Cuba one is best served by being compliant. If I ever manage to get back I'll have a better look since I have a cousin who has moved there.

Whimsical for the colors of the vehicles, charming for the feel-good message, engaging for the puzzle of where the reflection is coming from. Love it!

It's actually not a reflection. It's light shining through glass.

A general explanation about my responses.
I try to reply to every posted image. When one person posts more than one image (unless it is a number of photos intended to be looked at as a series), I will usually only reply to the first image the person has posted for the week.
I'm interested in an image and the way people respond to it. The discussion following an image is nearly as important to me as the image. It's part of broadening my understanding of the way an image works.
Especially with flat view, I find it difficult to sort out the flow of discussions. Therefore I limit my replies for the week to the first image I come across from a participant.
When images are posted later in the week, I find that discussion generally doesn't develop around those shots. As I value the opinions, I rarely comment on anything posted later than around Sunday.
It isn't that I'm ignoring other images. Besides, it's time consuming and there are limits to how much I have available.

Several things stand out.
It's immediately obvious that this is a macro shot and we are seeing shapes, edges, surfaces that we otherwise never see.
The warm red browns dominate.
The points and edges and the gap between the two crystalline forms.
The rich firelight red at the lower front.

While I don't know what I'm looking at, the forms, colours, textures and arrangements still make this interesting to study. The edges of the frames work with the edges of the crystals. It all moves to the moment where the two points appear ready to touch or part. Static objects can create tension as they do here.
The prong like shapes also give direction to the underlying lines. (What are they? They look like gemstone settings but they aren't).
The close details are enjoyable to study as is the over all composition.
I get your caption but I'm puzzled by the song connection.

My mixed feelings aren't about filters in general. I agree with you. My particular concern is an impressionist effect. I like impressionism for the visual and also for the philosophy (for want of a better word) behind the point of making an impressionistic image. To add filter that creates the effect after the image has been captured feels like is a sort of visual oxymoron to me.

I couldn't agree more. One of the difficult things with flat view forums is that it is hard to tell the posts being referred to or whether the poster has actually seen a previous post in the discussion.
In my original response to this shot I suggested that this image could best be presented as one of a framed group. I'm delighted to see that this is in fact already underway. When the eventual display is completed, could we have a shot of what the collection looks like grouped together on the wall?.

Aw, shucks. I thought you would never ask!

I uploaded one of the images here some weeks ago -

Here are the rest -

Rich

Hi Mike,
it is a Dandelion. The shape you see is sunlight reflecting off little band like structures at the base of the stalks that hold the filaments. I had to look at a couple of other shots to work it out...

Thanks Pete. I had been seeing many older sad looking seed heads and this one was the lucky find. The light was fortunately good at the time too.

Hi Linda, yes we are smack bang in the middle of winter here (although I am in a milder part of the country). All the flower shots I have posted the last few months have had me wondering about seasonal changes as I always associated flowers with spring. Some I researched and they may flower at various times. Turns out Dandelions bloom late autumn to early spring so nothing unusual...

Hi Paula, I will try and remember to have a play with b&w. I had snapped a few some time ago and nothing came close to this one. I was just lucky with the light that day / time giving the filaments a silky look.

Hi Mike,
I noticed the container in the distance and saw the incongruousness of it. Years ago I didn't like containers in rural areas but perhaps their cheap usefulness has grown on me...
The dark blurred object on top is a roll of black poly pipe sitting on a couple of palettes. As the shot was at full zoom 108mm (600 equivalent), the far background is poorly resolved and playing tricks. I was up there again two days ago and there is nothing directly behind the container.

Hi Pete, yes quirkiness nails my feeling when I saw it. It even reminded me of Dr Who when I was a kid, where the blue Tardis would be parked in some odd spot in a field.

Hi Linda, as Mike replied to Paula, they are popular here as a cheap storage shed in rural areas. Some are turning them into tiny homes...

As mentioned above, just artefacts from the far distance appearing between the branches of the closer trees.

Hi Mike, nice shot of the buildings' reflection. That is the sort of shot I look for. The distortion gives them a bit of cartoon character.

Week after week your shots astound us. Another classic. While I have discovered and enjoy macros of flowers, I want to find the time to play with inanimate objects and lighting. However you have set a high standard which may be difficult to match... (I have a small container with 32 different shiny chrome screw driver tips. I have already snapped a couple of it but so far needs improvement).

In my limited experience of shooting sunsets, I found there is a short window of time when the oranges spread across the sky. Nice shot.

Beautiful shot Jim. The reflection is spot on, nice light and colours and the timing just right with it's beak so close to the water.

It's funny how we talk about containers being out of place in rural areas. Sometimes I think cities are out of place full stop. Maybe the dark clouds don't help my feelings in this case. I do like the crane in the 2nd shot bcoz it shows us how these buildings got there in the first place. I also like the period architecture in that street. Number 3 against the spire makes us doubt the height of the Shard claim and 5 is a clever composition. Perhaps only the British would name such an iconic building so literally. But I am Australian, and we are bred to have an ongoing stoush with the 'Poms'. Nice series of a sharp piece of glass... 😉

As others have mentioned, a wonderful shot. So much going on but everything deserves it's place. A perfect poster card to make one want to visit.

Yes. That is a country with some mistique for me and would love to travel there. Paula's photo captures it as imagined.